Guild Wars 2

I’m new to the game and I’m only a few levels to 80 so please help me out

I tried googling it but I couldn’t find an answer. I saw a video of an elementalist with a D/WH raiding so I assume that’s what I should go for? I also read somewhere that I should use a staff instead but that post was a little outdated. So what weapon should I use for general PVE content?

Find what ever seems to fit your style of play I’ve been using a staff and stuck to it

In PvE Staff is always solid. I generally prefer scepter (+focus). If you want to train close combat take dagger :-). Its playstyle.

Scepter doesn’t have much going for it apart from the burst. It gets completely outshined by dagger or staff. Even the damage drops greatly after the initial burst was used.

Dagger has good damage and mobility and you have some options depending on which off-hand weapon you pick. Going more defensive, offensive or supportive, etc. It is just limited by it’s short ranged skills in the end. You will have trouble using it in HoT as a beginner where everything hits like a truck.

You should try to focus on staff for now.
It is quit versatile thanks to the high damage (most of which is AoE even), group healing, some mobility and decent amount of CC.
All of the skills are ranged on top of that. Easy to learn and still a high curve at the end.

IMHO in PvE you can use whatever you want / like to play more, all works even vs maguma NPCs.

Still, I think some weapons put you at more disadvantage than others:

- Dagger main has nice mobility & dmg, but forces you to melee, and that has some risk involved vs some NPCs that you can totally evade by being ranged.

- Scepter main works really nice with tempests fresh air, as you can burst + overload for tons of dmg while being ranged. But it may lack the dmg if you didnt unlocked the elite spec.

- Offhand I would go with focus (for defense) or warhorn (mobility+support), dagger gives you more mobility (always nice) and CC (but that vs NPCs is not that needed)

- Staff is probably the strongest option if you are in a zerg or team as your mates can distract npc while you bomb them. Alone some npcs wont let you use your strongest attacks because of the casting times. (but you could use earth eles to tank)

Staff – long range. Damage primarily comes from delayed ground AoE fields, so it’s good against things that don’t move. Also good if you drop some stuff under the target from far away before the enemy sees you. Also the only weapon that doesn’t work well with a condition damage focused build.

Dagger – close range, highest damage, good against things that move around

Scepter – ranged, but less range than staff. better than staff against things that move around a lot, but less damage against things that don’t move

I use staff for 1st phase teq then switch to dagger during the rest of it., staff for mega D, and Golem. Dagger/warhorn for everything else.

Ele is the class that to me feels like a master of all weapons, not just one. OP, if you are on a budget, get staff first but if you can afford to buy more, one of each – staff, scepter, focus, warhorn and 2 daggers.

Imo, the really nice thing about staff is that you have awesome range with it but it’s good in melee too.

Jayden Ennok.3687:

Ele is the class that to me feels like a master of all weapons, not just one. OP, if you are on a budget, get staff first but if you can afford to buy more, one of each – staff, scepter, focus, warhorn and 2 daggers.

Imo, the really nice thing about staff is that you have awesome range with it but it’s good in melee too.

Right. Scepter is pretty garbage though. So are the Dagger offhand skills because of the redunculous CDs.
I mean, I also have all weapons in my inventory because you never know. But in PvE all you really need is a Staff and Dagger/Warhorn if you want to go for Fresh Air. Focus has some nice defense if you really need it but eh.

Mainhand:
Scepter is the one weapon I’ve never bothered with. It’s meant to be spikey, but the spike isn’t easy to pull off IMO. The auto is terrible on every element unless you’re running condition damage but if you go full condi with no ferocity, air is ridiculously weak & so are phoenix, lightning strike, hurl. Dragon’s tooth & shatterstone have delays too.

Staff is my favorite because of static field, 2 water fields (plus a small heal with auto) with eruption to blast it, pretty much permanent fire field with lava font , meteor shower on large groups of trash mobs (the cast time is minimal with quickness) , gust knockback, windborne speed chill/immob removal. It was sad when they nerfed fireball visually into more of a flare.

Dagger has more DPS while auto-ing on air (lightning whip) but also respectable damage from fire (dragon’s breath, burning speed also) as well as water’s cone of cold. It’s a faster weapon with more chances to get auras since you can go d/w,d/f, or d/d. Condi damage amplifies damage but is not a requirement for decent damage.

Offhand:
Warhorn : standout skills are heat sync & sand squall , has water field
Focus: obsidian flesh & magnetic wave ; small AoE daze & projectile hate
dagger: fire + earth attunements for damage , air for mobility/launch, water for condi clear/aura

Sourde Noire.5286:

Jayden Ennok.3687:

Ele is the class that to me feels like a master of all weapons, not just one. OP, if you are on a budget, get staff first but if you can afford to buy more, one of each – staff, scepter, focus, warhorn and 2 daggers.

Imo, the really nice thing about staff is that you have awesome range with it but it’s good in melee too.

Right. Scepter is pretty garbage though. So are the Dagger offhand skills because of the redunculous CDs.
I mean, I also have all weapons in my inventory because you never know. But in PvE all you really need is a Staff and Dagger/Warhorn if you want to go for Fresh Air. Focus has some nice defense if you really need it but eh.

Even if dagger offhand has long cd’s, why shouldn’t I use the ones I want (ie RTL) when it’s not on cd? Same with scepter etc.

In combat, I play 95% staff, outside of combat, I just use what I need. Even average thief knows bow is great for moving around the map. Ele has offhand dagger, doesn’t mean the ele has to use offhand dagger on mobs too.

Well, maybe because RTL has a 40s CD if you use it to travel along the map. And maybe because a discussion about ‘which weapon should I use in X’ usually revolves around, you know, applying those weapons to things to kill them, so I don’t see some mobility out of combat as a selling point.

And what out of combat benefit does scepter hold, I wonder, save for pre-combat Might stacking?

scepter/warhorn is the best set for dedicated healing
and scepter/focus has better ranged burning than staff

aside from those two niche uses, scepter is pretty useless

well I guess scepter/warhorn can also allow you to keep up 25 might for allies by yourself with a little boon duration. but dagger/warhorn can get pretty close, or can reach it if taking strength runes

reikken.4961:

scepter/warhorn is the best set for dedicated healing

Dagger mainhand has a blast finisher in the water attunement, so you can blast your Warhorn 5 as soon as you cast it. Water trident is annoying to cast compared to the cool breath thing. shatterstone and ice shards are wastes, at least vaper blade stacks vulnerability (not that you should be AA-ing in water attuenment anyway).

As a side note I don’t get the hype about focus as a “great defensive option” in PvE. Obsidian flesh is nice for rez-stomp in PvP, and the magnetic aura is great for condition cleanse in PvP as well. Focus also has great projectile control. but what really irks me about focus is that the water skills are complete bullkitten. Comet and freezing gust are cool for CC but offer no healing at all. I hate using focus, being in a tight spot, and being like, “oh yeah can’t switch to water attunement no heals”

In PvE i just don’t see the advantage of losing Sand Squall, Heat Sync and the massive water AoE heals that focus doesn’t have. Wildfire is also a massive fire field for stacking might with or putting on a stationary boss your allies can projectile combo with, compared to the itty bitty fire line that focus gives.

TL;DR dagger/warhorn is beast

I’ve been using staff since Beta Weekend 1 and I still love it. It’s got range, huge AoE, great healing and condi removal, lots of CC and lots of fields. Works great at 1200 or standing right on top of things. It will dominate everything PvE can throw at you. Great damage, support and control all rolled into one.

But really it’s PvE and you should play what you enjoy. Grab cheapies of all your usable weapons from the basic vendor and go try them all out. See what speaks to you and then play with your build from there.

Raiding is its own thing and what goes on there has no bearing on general PvE. Most everything is viable in general PvE, so the important thing is finding a weapon you enjoy.

Ur weapon depends on what ur doing. General rule for dps is if it’s a large hit box then use staff with bolt to the heart. If it’s a medium or small hit box use dagger/warhorn with fresh air

Alex Shatter.7956:

reikken.4961:

scepter/warhorn is the best set for dedicated healing

Dagger mainhand has a blast finisher in the water attunement, so you can blast your Warhorn 5 as soon as you cast it. Water trident is annoying to cast compared to the cool breath thing. shatterstone and ice shards are wastes, at least vaper blade stacks vulnerability (not that you should be AA-ing in water attuenment anyway).

Yes, frozen burst on water field is great, and I use it regularly, as I am usually playing dagger/warhorn, the best general purpose pve set. But scepter offers something that dagger/warhorn has absolutely no ability to do: heal from range. Additionally, the blast finisher heal is actually relatively weak in a build with a lot of healing power, as blast finishers don’t scale well with it. Trident can heal for about twice as much, plus apply regen, on half the cooldown.

As a side note I don’t get the hype about focus as a “great defensive option” in PvE.

Earth is your “oh kitten” button with focus, rather than water. If you’re in a tight spot, you swap to earth and instantly go invuln, or instantly clear conditions and get projectile reflect. no cast time needed; can use while disabled. Indeed you have less healing, but in a truly tight spot, these things are usually better for staying alive than some heals which also have a cast time. Swirling winds is also the best thing ever in certain situations.

That said, I will restate that I believe warhorn is the best general purpose pve off hand. The AoE blind is quite nice for defense as well. Additionaly it’s fun doing
evasive arcana in water (heal) → water 5 (water field) → water 3 (blast) → water 4 (heal) → evasive arcana in earth (blast) → earth 4 (blast). 8400 AoE heal with no healing power and without water traited

In early game, you can use scepter to carry you to the point where you start getting traits which are what give elementalist it’s power. Dragon’s Tooth and Phoenix are enough to burst down groups of mobs, but that stops working as you gain levels and the overall awful design of the weapon starts to get in the way.

I swear by staff as the best PvE weapon, but it’s clunky and AoE based and soloing with it can be frustrating for new players until you learn how to handle it.

I think I leveled with D/D, but that was like three years ago and that build is really trait dependent. You are in for some serious pain running that in the early game.

Not sure what I would roll now. Probably scepter to carry me early game and then D/D once I could start working on Water and Arcane line. I should make a new elementalist and level without any help from my account stuff; it would be an interesting experience.

early game: Conjure Flame Axe as soon as you unlock your first utility skill slot. It will do way more damage than anything else you can use. (aside from Phoenix, which has hilarious burst if aimed properly)
Trait fire as soon as you unlock your first trait line.

Sourde Noire.5286:

Well, maybe because RTL has a 40s CD if you use it to travel along the map. And maybe because a discussion about ‘which weapon should I use in X’ usually revolves around, you know, applying those weapons to things to kill them, so I don’t see some mobility out of combat as a selling point.

And what out of combat benefit does scepter hold, I wonder, save for pre-combat Might stacking?

Since when pre-combat might stacking is not enough to keep a scepter in the inventory? The blasts are awesome even for other fields ele + thief are amazing for skips and the blasts are available without leaving fire att as well, which is super nice in places like AC p3.

OP asked about general pve that for me is more than dpsing a mob. There are always plenty of people that fail even to get to that mob because they are either not aware of their class options or are too lazy to use them.